I've been thinking about it for at least 90 seconds, and 'Give it a go, bro' is now firmly ingrained in my national psyche. I love it. I think its true genius is that it's just SO Murray Hewitt. I don't think Kiwis would go for a slogan unless it was so ironic it wasn't ironic anymore. We can be good keen Kiwis and take the p'ss out of ourselves at the same time, and no one will know if we're kidding or not. It's very Nu Zullund that way.

Yes, isn't that whole boosterism, tagline, BIG idea things so boring? Sitting through the sessions at X Media Lab, and the by far the most powerful is simple, viral, authentic, and organic. Top down won't work.

Vincent - I wonder if you'd be interested to chat to any of the Entrepreneurial Summit organisers as to what sits behind Give it a go 'Bro? It is most certainly not intended as a tag line for NZ externally. It could however have a strategic impact internally, if successfully introduced into our schools. It would most certainly help in creating a more positive national psyche in times to come - if introduced positively and with a clear understanding of the objectives, i.e. what it actually means. We are in desperate need of engendering our youth with greater self belief - as the Aussie have in themselves. The thinking behind this could have a significant impact if educationalists, and numerous others, actually "gave it a go". The Summit organising team are committed to remaining together over the next 18 months to implement the top ideas; there's more than 5. Perhaps instead of killing an idea from outset (the irony is not lost on anyone), you might like to pitch in and help - and Give it Go?

I don't think that the problem is "Give it a go, bro". The problem is "Do it well, Sal". In my experience kiwis (and kiwi kids in particular) are great at "giving it a go". We're a nation of enthusiastic amateurs and backyard inventors indoctinated to believe that our No 8 fencing wire mentality will win the day. What we lack is not a "give it a go" attitude. We've got that in spades (and often to our detriment). Nor do we lack for great ideas. What we often lack is the commercial nous, professionalism and long-term grit and stickability to see these ideas to fruition and financial success.

I thinking its a catch phrase to justify failing.

Now investors who have lost thousands in failed finance companies can feel a whole lot better becasue they can say, "well I gave it a go, bro."...

And those finance companies can clear their conscience by saying to their investors, "although we made some wrong decisions, we gave it a go, bro,"...

And when the All Blacks get a penalty right on full time, and opt to go for a try rather than taking the 3 points,. They can safely turn around to the country and say "Yeah we lost, but hey, we gave it a go, bro"...

So now when an employer makes one of their staff redundant, they can now add, "we have to let you go, bro."

We deserve better.

HAVE A GO Bro!

Yeah this takes me back to sometime in the early 80s. Remember 'Come on Kiwis!' with the rousing theme song?

It really hit the feel-good spot last time ...

Try it now.
Do it more.
Things you've never done before.
Say G'day, anyway, have a go.
Have a go.
Have a go.
Have a go!

Oh God, spare us from more vile humbug ... ... more triumph of hype over substance. "Give it a go bro" is a pure cliche and empty words. Give WHAT a go? Burglary, wife-beating, P-smoking?
Arguably racist too, as 'bro' has ethnic connotations that exclude so-called 'pakeha', who do I need to point out are still a majority of New Zealanders ...?

Even the outwardly most impressive ideas often aren't all they're cracked up to be. Proponents of water harvesting are relentlessly in denial of a simple truth that has been pointed out hundreds of times before: obtaining water sustainably doesn't automatically mean the farming activity it supports will also be sustainable. In fact more water harvesting leads to more intensive farming, and these days that usually means more dairy farming. That is, both more cows in total and more cows per hectare, and thus more use of fertiliser and more generation of pollutants. This isn't sustainability. Look at the degeneration of the environment in Canterbury over the past 12 or so years – it has to be seen to be believed (see www.waterrightstrust.org.nz for example)
Even turning possums into profit isn't all it's cracked up to be. There's a long history of pest animal harvest moving in boom-and-bust cycles that neither solve the long-term biodiversity and biosecurity threats they pose, nor create economic security. The only way to solve the possum problem long term is to kill all of them, and that's not likely to happen with existing technology.
As for the suggestion that hemp is the answer, well I'm all for getting stoned if that's what you like to do but please let's not be perpetuating this royal humbug about hemp seed being a 'perfectly balanced protein food source'. This claim perfectly encapsulates the humbug of miraculous quick-fix solutions and simple answers some people like to push. Get off the grass, Karen – there, that's another good cliche to finish on!

Very amusing thread, 1 thing that this idea winning does prove...
You can't beat a tag line for getting people into something. Without it this idea wouldn't have got anywhere. Perhaps all the creative experts commenting need to consider that?

Tom, Congratulations for your self promotion and successful hijack of the day, you came prepared and and organised and were sucessful. Vincent, agree re what we need, although I put capital first, second and third. We don't get past the growth stage often in NZ and won't create a large high value company unless we can change the way we introduce capital to business, especially non-traditional business. You could not start a google, microsoft or any other of these new age companies in NZ unless you have a very wealthy family (trademe). Most of our best companies small and big ultimately end up owned off shore because it is the only place they can get backing to scale.

Ideas don't win, execution wins...

Keep up the great forum and debate

Ben

Oh for gods sake bros! It's time to get radical and dare to be optimistic. NZers can be so dark - it takes guts to dream out loud in this country. I dare you to pluck yourselves from the dungeons of cynacism and grow some hope genes. These guys make some good points and someone's gotta be the first to stand up and speak the ideas out loud. Ten years down the track some of these ideas will actually have become a reality, and optimism will be so 'in' man. Then my day will come. Ha ha ha!!!
http://charlottehappyzine.blogspot.com/2009/05/bro-check-out-happyzine.html

hey Jared, we try the experiment every 3 years ... we choose the guys/girls ... and let them loose with our hard paid tax dollars .... so we do it all the time already, but Bob has a good point - can we say it actually works?

The water harvesting idea is great, but hardly new! We have been developing the technology to help large and small users do this for years, and many projects have gone ahead. The reason this is not spreading faster is we lack the venture capital to expand in New Zealand, so we are now moving our base overseas.
If the entrepreneurs think this is a good idea, we would be pleased to hear from them. There seems to be no way for us to contact them.

Gosh, Tom, so defensive...

Yes, I am thinking about doing something about it. I've talked to several of my advertising colleagues about this in the past week, and all agree it's worth a crack. Now whether that happens in an over-hyped public forum, or in a more private setting - where ideas are publicly shared only if they are seen to have real merit - I am as yet undecided. It is possibly something that could be put to CAANZ, our industry body, as a pro bono project, or done through an industry organ like Campaign Brief, or even through this magazine.

But I stand by my comments that the results were lame and we - creative New Zealanders - can do better.

I'll keep you posted, bro.

Good to know what Auckland entrepreneurs are doing.